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MILLIONS OF SOCKEYE SALMON have mysteriously failed to turn up in a Canadian
river as part of their annual spawning, leaving experts baffled and the
local fishing industry in despair.

The Canadian government projected that between six and 10 million sockeye salmon would return to the Fraser river this month.

But the official count for the annual 'summer run' -- by far the
largest of four salmon migrations that see millions of fish return to
Canada's lakes and rivers from the Pacific each year from June to late
August -- is now just 600,000.

Where the others went remains a mystery.

Local fishermen, described the
situation as "shocking," a "catastrophe" and a "crisis," while public
broadcaster CBC said 2009 could end up being the worst year ever for
the industry.

A record number of salmon smolts were born in the Fraser in 2005 and
migrated to the ocean. Nature dictates that most of them should have
returned by now to spawn.

"It's a bit of a mystery," Stan Proboszcz, an expert fish biologist from the Watershed Watch Salmon Society.

"Honestly, we don't know what happens to them when they go out into the
ocean," he said. "There's a myriad of factors that could explain what's
going on." It is "quite shocking," he added.

Officials and ecologists speculated the salmon which are extremely temperature sensitive could have been affected
by warmer ocean temperatures, fewer food sources, or juvenile salmon
may have contracted sea lice or other infections from some 30 fish farms in the Strait of Georgia as they migrated out to sea.

Proboszcz, however, suggested that fishing industry officials
may have miscalculated their complex forecasts or that the fish could
just be late arriving -- although he conceded the latter theory was
highly unlikely.

Wild salmon are under threat in many rivers of the north Pacific and north Atlantic because of overfishing at sea.

Environmental groups in Canada,
Norway and Scotland have been fierce critics of salmon farms because of
fears over sea lice -- naturally occurring parasites of wild salmon
that latch onto the fishes' skin in the open ocean.

Salmon farms are a haven for these parasites, which adult salmon can
survive but which small, thin-skinned juveniles are vulnerable to,
especially when heading from the river to the sea.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokeswoman Lara Sloan said the main Fraser river fishery
had not opened due to the drop in numbers and that another local
fishery had scaled back this season's catch to just five percent of the
norm. No recreational fishing has been allowed.

Sloan would not be drawn on the reason behind the lack of fish.

"There are a lot of variations in the ocean," she said. "They're all
interconnected, so it's impossible to point to one reason for this
happening.

"So far, they're not coming back in the numbers we expected, but we will continue to look for them."

Other species, pink salmon and chum salmon, are due to arrive around the end of August through October. So far there is no indication they have been affected.

Chinook salmon
are also returning to spawn in the region, but they have been a
"conservation concern" for several years, and their numbers remain low.

John N. Smith's Canada-Ireland co-production 'Love & Savagery' shot in Inis Mor and in Clare will
be receiving its world premiere screening at the 33rd Montreal World
Film Festival (27 August - 7 September), also screening is documentary
'Child of the Dead End'.

Love and Savagery is a story of passion, fate, and the consequences of
the two. In 1968, Newfoundland geologist and poet, Michael McCarthy,
travels to Ballyvaughan to examine the "Burren" a geological wonder.
There he meets Cathleen, a beautiful woman who captures his heart, but
because of the path she chose when she was young she cannot allow him
to capture hers. Savagery erupts when Michael's persistence collides with the
townspeople's hostility toward a foreigner's attempt to intervene with
divinity. Cathleen has to choose between a desire that she has recently
discovered and a desire that she has felt throughout most of her life.
Which will she choose? The love of a man, or the love of God? Can she
love both? Is she strong enough to make the right choice?

Back in May, a negative of a 35mm film was sent through Canada customs by way of Ireland. Canada customs decided that since Ireland is that that title was just indecent, they held the film up....even though with producers in Quebec and Ireland, the Newfoundland and Labrador Film
Development Corp. and the Irish Film Board were backing the film,...

Featuring
in the festival's World Greats strand, 'Love & Savagery' is
produced by St. John's-based Barbara Doran of Morag Loves Company and
Lynne Wilson for Newfoundland alongside Kevin Tierney of Montreal-based
Park Ex Pictures for Quebec. Tristan Orpen Lynch (Proof) of Subotica
Entertainment, Ireland, is executive producer.

Commenting on the
selection of the Irish co-produced film for the Montreal Festival,
executive producer Tristan told IFTN: "We are delighted that 'Love and
Savagery' has been chosen to premiere at the Montreal World Film
Festival. This is a poetic and charming love story which we shot in the
West of Ireland - emerging Irish actress Sarah Greene delivers a
remarkable performance in the female lead role."

The $6.3m film which was
partly shot in County Clare and Inis Mor last year, was written by
screenwriter Des Walsh with Pierre Latarte director of photography.

Set in 1969, 'Love &
Savagery' follows a young Newfoundland scientist who set off to explore
Ireland's geology only to discover his one true love. The young woman's
plans to enter the church are sorely tested, as are the community's
traditions.

Finance for the film was
provided by Telefilm Canada, The Newfoundland and Labrador Film
Development Corporation and the Irish Film Board.

Also chosen to be
screened at the Montreal World Film Festival is 'Child of the Dead End'
a documentary by Desmond Bell, which draws upon a rich vein of early
cinema archive and live action shot in Ireland, Scotland and England.

'Child of The Dead End'
tells the touching story of poet, novelist, dramatist and Screen writer
Patrick MacGill played by Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea.

The production, which
involved two shoots in Donegal, one in Cloughaneely, Poison Glen and
Glenties in May of 2008 and a second in Glenties and around Mount
Errigal in August of the same year, was produced by Glass Machine
Productions; Elle Kent, Rebecca Dover and edited by Simon Hipkins,
director of photography on the project was Sam Mitchell.